Aztec trade/economy By Katelyn Bishop
Trade was an important part of life for the Aztecs. When trading goods, the Aztecs did not use currency. Cocoa beans were one of the Aztecs favorite things to trade. To the Aztecs cocoa beans were very valuable; they were almost as valuable as gold and diamonds are to us today. They were so valuable because chocolate was rare, and people would give a lot to have their cocoa beans turned into rich creamy chocolate.
People also traded other rare items such as jewelry, rubbers, cotton, and valuables made from animals. Such as big cat skins from tigers, necklaces made from bones, clothing, or sometimes feathers from tropical birds.
Most of the time merchants would travel by foot with their goods, but if a merchant had too many objects to carry alone they would use a canoe and travel downstream with their goods, or they would make their slaves travel with them and have them carry their goods by foot no matter how heavy.
Many merchants would travel to a far away land and return to show off their rare items such as spices, gems, animal skins, and many other objects with a high value.
No one had very complex tools for farming, so if a merchant wanted to trade foods such as corn, beans, or wheat they would have to do all of the work by hand, including weeding, plowing, watering, and planning all of their seeds.
Many animal skins were valuable because hunting bigger animals could be dangerous because there were few tools to hunt them with and the tools they did have were not very advanced.
A lot of merchants would often get together each year to trade older goods that they could not trade and they would also hope to get new and better goods from other merchants.
by KaTeLyN bIsHoP A-3
Aztec trade/economy
By Katelyn Bishop
Trade was an important part of life for the Aztecs. When trading goods, the Aztecs did not use currency. Cocoa beans were one of the Aztecs favorite things to trade. To the Aztecs cocoa beans were very valuable; they were almost as valuable as gold and diamonds are to us today. They were so valuable because chocolate was rare, and people would give a lot to have their cocoa beans turned into rich creamy chocolate.
People also traded other rare items such as jewelry, rubbers, cotton, and valuables made from animals. Such as big cat skins from tigers, necklaces made from bones, clothing, or sometimes feathers from tropical birds.
Most of the time merchants would travel by foot with their goods, but if a merchant had too many objects to carry alone they would use a canoe and travel downstream with their goods, or they would make their slaves travel with them and have them carry their goods by foot no matter how heavy.
Many merchants would travel to a far away land and return to show off their rare items such as spices, gems, animal skins, and many other objects with a high value.
No one had very complex tools for farming, so if a merchant wanted to trade foods such as corn, beans, or wheat they would have to do all of the work by hand, including weeding, plowing, watering, and planning all of their seeds.
Many animal skins were valuable because hunting bigger animals could be dangerous because there were few tools to hunt them with and the tools they did have were not very advanced.
A lot of merchants would often get together each year to trade older goods that they could not trade and they would also hope to get new and better goods from other merchants.
History Aztec refrences
1: http://library.thinkquest.org/16325/y-eco.html
2: Prentice Hall World Studies
3: http://www.plu.edu/~edwardne/
4: http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/81793.html
5: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/494813/the_aztec_trading_system.html
6: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090531141713AAEh5WV
aztec home page
Katelyn Bishop